WP04 - PulseNet Europe

A key tool in recognising and controlling food-borne outbreaks is high-discriminatory molecular typing of the pathogen isolated from humans and their possible sources. Because strains from suspected outbreaks, which may be isolated over geographical and temporal distances, require urgent investigation, a strategy involving local DNA fingerprinting of such strains and electronic submission and analysis of the results to a central database system will be implemented.

The overall aim is to establish a real-time linked surveillance database system to detect disease clusters and investigate outbreaks of Salmonella, VTEC and Listeria. The participants of the network will perform standardised molecular subtyping of the involved organisms and submit them to the database system following a strict Quality Assurance system. Medical and veterinary curators for each organism will be responsible for the daily function of the databases including cluster detection and response.

A rapid communication system will be established, i.e. a WebBoard, to streamline and accelerate communication between the participants, e.g. during outbreaks.

Objectives

The overall aim is to establish a real-time linked surveillance database system
to detect disease clusters and investigate outbreaks of Salmonella, VTEC and Listeria. This will involve:

• Establishment of a real-time linked surveillance database system to detect disease clusters and investigate outbreaks of Salmonella, VTEC and Listeria.
• Establishment of a database curator system and training of the curators
• Establishment of a rapid communication system (PNE forum)
• Establishment of a certification and proficiency testing program and certification of participants